"Woh 3 din tak batting karta hai" - Know Rohit Sharma's first impression on Pujara

Indian cricketer and present ODI captain Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara are friends from the very early days of their cricket careers. Not long days ago, Rohit Sharma revealed his first impression of Pujara, which was frustrating for him.

Former Indian cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Sunday (August 24). In his international career, Pujara played 103 Tests and five ODIs, where the right-handed top-order batter scored 7195 runs and 51 runs, respectively. In his Test career, he recorded 19 centuries and 35 half-centuries, with his best score 206 not out. Pujara was known as one of the most stubborn batters in his generation, which is rare now, as the right-handed batter liked to bat for longer periods to frustrate opponents and became a wall for his team.

Pujara is the only batter in Indian cricket history to face at least 500 balls in a Test innings, as he faced 525 balls during his 202-run knock against Australia during the 2017 Ranchi Test. 

See Also: BCCI shares special message after Cheteshwar Pujara's international retirement

Mummy kya karu?: Rohit Sharma after seeing Cheteshwar Pujara for first time

While the cricket world is familiar with Pujara's lengthy batting, his childhood friend Rohit Sharma knew it during their early interactions. Recently, during a launch event of ‘The Diary of a Cricketer’s Wife’, which was written by Pujara’s wife Pooja, in Mumbai, Rohit revealed that interesting story, as the present Indian ODI captain was frustrated to see Pujara batting for three straight days while he was fielding those days.

Rohit said, “I still remember, my mom asked me two or three times, ‘When you leave home to play, you look different, but when you return after a week or ten days, you look completely changed.’ I told her, ‘Mummy kya karu? Pujara karke ek batsman hai, woh teen din tak batting karta hai. Aur hum teeno din fielding kar rahe the!’ (Mom, what can I do? There’s this batsman named Cheteshwar Pujara. He kept batting for three days, and we were just stuck fielding all three days!)’ That was the first impression we had of him. Until then, we had only heard that there’s this player called Cheteshwar Pujara, and if we don’t get him out quickly, we’re going to suffer on the field the entire day.”

Rohit and Pujara played together in U19 WC 2006

Before making their debut for India, Rohit and Pujara played together in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2006, where India finished as the runners-up, but Pujara was the Player of the Tournament by ending the tournament as the leading run-scorer. For Indian men's cricket team, they played together in 44 international matches, including 43 in Tests and one in the ODI format.